#WeirdBoats You Can Get a Boat Made from Volcanic Rock Now

Scott Way
14 hours ago
4 min read

A Hawaii startup has pitched an interesting concept for 3D printed boats using volcanic rock. Recreational boatbuilding may want to follow their progress.

A Hawaii-based startup is proposing a different way to build boats - not with moulds, fibreglass, and conventional production lines, but with industrial-scale 3D printers using materials the recreational boating industry has never used before.

Voltage Materials, and its subgroup Voltage Vessels, is making waves in the industrial boating sector thanks to a recent submission it made to the U.S. Navy and the Pentagon. The upstart company submitted a six-metre (19'8") rigid hull inflatable boat (RIB) design for U.S. maritime defense evaluation that was built using a new process called "large-format additive manufacturing" rather than traditional marine construction methods like resin infusion, vacuum bagging, or hand lamination.

Voltage also built the vessel using a proprietary composite material it calls Eclipse X9, which combines recycled PETG thermoplastic and what's called "chopped Basalt fiber reinforcement." Basalt itself is volcanic rock, which, when it's melted down into a magma form, it can be elongated into a fibrous material that bonds with other materials like thermoplastic. Together, the plastic/Basalt hybrid carries a similar rigidity to common boating materials like fibreglass, but also a degree of elasticity and impact resistance similar to materials like Kevlar.

The Basalt material is likely the cornerstone of the military's interest, but it could also have related benefits to boaters with respect to marine radios, VHF, and GPS. According to 3D Printing Industry: "Basalt fiber’s electrical non-conductivity gives Eclipse X9 a low dielectric constant, it does not reflect radar energy or interfere with the RF signals that autonomous naval systems depend on for navigation, communication, and sensor operation. That is a practical advantage over aluminum and carbon fiber hulls, though RF transparency remains under evaluation for specific frequency ranges."

While Voltage Vessels' 3D printed boat is currently being positioned for maritime defense applications, the manufacturing process behind it, and the materials involved, may also have interesting implications to mainstream boating.

Performance data from Voltage Materials testing with the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center

The majority of recreational fibreglass boats today are built using moulds and a core group of resin processes. Manufacturers must invest heavily in tooling before production can even begin, building massive moulds that are used repeatedly to produce hulls and primary components. The process works well for high-volume production because the upfront cost of moulds can be spread across many boats, but it also means that tooling requires storage, transportation, maintenance, and significant investment before a single hull can be produced.

The approach used by Voltage largely removes the mould from the equation. Instead of creating tooling and laying fibreglass into a mould, large-format industrial printers deposit composite material layer by layer directly from digital design files. This means the hull itself is built as a printed structure rather than a moulded one. Changes to the design can theoretically be made digitally, rather than by creating new moulds, and production could theoretically take place closer to where boats are needed rather than exclusively in centralized factories. In other words, it has the potential to make manufacturing mobile to some degree, and it also allows for customization on a case-by-case basis. For Voltage Vessels, their pitch to the U.S. Navy proposes an output of 15,000 metric tons of material annually, meaning they could make as many as 25,000 hulls per year of their 6-metre (19'8") RIB at a weight of 1300 lbs each (590 kg).

Voltage Vessels has also pitched other prototypes using the same production methods

The company says the concept of "distributed manufacturing" is one of the primary goals behind the project. Rather than shipping finished boats or storing extensive inventories, manufacturers could potentially store digital files and produce structures where demand exists. While 3D printing of boat hulls is still in its infancy, the capability to build anywhere, quickly, and on-demand could completely reorganize the manfucturing supply chain.

The Basalt material also differs significantly from traditional fibreglass construction. Basalt fiber, produced from volcanic rock, is becoming increasingly common in industrial composite applications because of its corrosion resistance and chemical stability. When Voltage Vessels tested the fabric alongside the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center, the material retained more than 90 percent of its strength after more than two years of saltwater immersion while maintaining low water absorption figures. If the material proves its seaworthiness long-term, it could increasingly replace fibreglass production methods, as manufacturers uncover new ways to build boats not only faster, but also stronger and more weather-resistant.

Removing the requirements for maintaining and storing moulds could also be welcomed by some of the industry's low-volume manufacturers and specialty builders where tooling costs represent a large percentage of production expenses. Building and stocking replacement parts could also change drastically as companies could build them on an order basis, rather than keep a large physical stock which takes up valuable floor space. For some of the industry's largest manufacturers, it could reduce the storage requirements for countless moulds for each model that often includes the hull, deck, and other primary components above and below the waterline like hardtops, stanchions, and structural supports.

As it stands, companies like Voltage Vessels are still in their infancy. The concepts of additive manufacturing still have limitations compared to established recreational boat production methods. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be paying attention, either.

While large-format printing is still relatively slow compared to established mass production processes, once industrial-scale printing equipment becomes capable of producing full-size hulls, there is potential for widespread change. Even now, printed structures require finishing and post-processing work, much like existing fibreglass methods, which adds a similar degree of additional labor to the manufacturing process. So while traditional fibreglass construction has decades of real-world operating history behind it, large-scale printed composite hulls could have the potential to change how we approach marine manufacturing.

For now, Voltage's six-metre (19'8") RIB will remain a defense-focused project rather than a recreational product. But as with many things, ideas that are adopted early by the military industrial complex often venture into commercial civilian manufacturing down the road.

While wholesale changes to recreational boatbuilding would be massive, complicated, and time-consuming, especially during a period of larger economic turmoil, manufacturing boats from digital files rather than moulds presents an interesting idea for the future. Boaters like to go fast, and building boats even faster would certainly have its appeal. #news #culture